A C182 COMMERCIAL PLT LEAVES THE INITIAL APCH ALT TOO SOON AFTER BEING CLRED FOR A VOR DME APCH TO RWY 18 AT DEC; IL.

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ON APCH TO DEC; IL; WAS PROVIDED WX AT DEC AS 6 MI IN MIST; CLOUDS AT 2000 FT; 4500 FT. INITIALLY TOLD TO EXPECT LNDG ON RWY 24 (INBOUND HDG). I WAS GIVEN WINDS AS 170 DEGS 15+15 KTS. ASKED IF I WOULD PREFER RWY 18 AND REPLIED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE. I WAS GIVEN A HDG OF 300 DEGS AND ALT OF 3000 FT FOR SPACING. (B727 WAS IN THE PATTERN SHOOTING VFR TOUCH-AND-GOES ON RWY 24.) I FELT THAT I WAS BEING VECTORED FOR A VISUAL APCH TO RWY 18; HOWEVER; I PULLED OUT THE GPS APCH TO RWY 18 BECAUSE OF REDUCED VISIBILITY AT LOWER ALT. AFTER A TURN TO 270 DEGS AND THEN 240 DEGS I WAS TOLD I WAS CLRED FOR THE VOR APCH. I HAD NOT ANTICIPATED NOR WAS I TOLD TO EXPECT A VOR APCH. AFTER TURN ONTO FINAL; I DSNDED TO 2300 FT AS PUBLISHED. APCH THEN ASKED IF I WAS FOLLOWING THE VOR APCH. I STATED THAT I HAD THE GPS APCH IN FRONT OF ME AND ASKED IF THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE. THE CTLR ADVISED ME TO CLB BACK TO 3000 FT; THAT THERE WAS A TWR 2000 FT; 5 MI AHEAD AND THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE THE GPS APCH ON THEIR SCOPE. I COULD SEE THE TWR; THANKED THE CTLR AND PROCEEDED INBOUND. AFTER PASSING OVER THE TWR; WAS CHANGED TO DEC TWR FOR LNDG. CTLR DID NOT INDICATE THAT I WAS IN VIOLATION AND WAS VERY HELPFUL. I FELT THAT I WAS BEING VECTORED FOR A VISUAL AND DID NOT MENTALLY PREPARE MYSELF FOR AN IFR APCH.