Thats a nice pic
but you're right the DA has let it down
Have you thought about a guidescope and PHD? If you use a guidescope DA becomes a bit less critical
You can set up guiding fairly cheaply, the guidescope can be as simple as a kmart 50 dollar kids refractor, dovetail/rings and an obsolete meade dsi 1 linked to PHD (which is free). I just found that for a portable set up spending half the night getting near perfect DA was an ultra drag.
All in all tho if I took a pic like that one when I was new to the game I would be very proud indeed nice work!